Monday, November 8 2021

Dear Journal,

Good morning, everybody. Happy Monday. Today, we're doing our best to shake off the relaxing weekend and get things back on track. We have code to write, bread to bake, toys to pick up, and Christmas presents to start thinking about. By this time in November, I was hoping to feel a magical burst of energy that sends me into a frenzy of preparing for winter. But sometimes you have to make your own energy. You have to reach within yourself and just pretend for a moment that you feel like doing all those things and hope it will eventually become a reality.

Small things can help - like starting off a new week wearing your favorite outfit. You know the first outfit you put on after a laundry cycle? The one that you, perhaps, subconsciously wish you could wear copies of every day? For Rodney, that's his camo pants and his minecraft shirt. Rodney is ready for the week, and not even the blue zip-up he detests can curb his Monday morning swag.

Sip. We have a lot of photos to get through, so why don't we just make this one a "weekend in pictures: daylight savings edition".

We had a great weekend. Rodney didn't have school on Friday, so he and Marissa filled the time with some yard work. After all, the night before all the trees in the neighborhood simultaneously exploded.

We also had some Halloween decorations to clean-up. Taking a work break to walk outside, I found Rodney on the front porch teasing me about my pumpkin. Our carved pumpkins had started to get soft and mealy, and having the biggest mouth mine looked the silliest. Rodney stood over it, smashing it down with his hands. My once spooky, toothy grin now resembled a toothless old man.

Wanted to escalate the fun we were having, I picked up my pumpkin as if I was going to carry it to the curb. I pretended to lose my balance, tossing my pumpkin into the air. It hit the sidewalk with a gratifying crunch. Rodney doubled over with laughter.

"I'll take Momma's pumpkin now," I said, scooping it into my arms. Once again, I pretended to lose my balance and flung the pumpkin into the air. It too crunched on the ground. Rodney laughed harder.

Finally, I picked up Rodney's pumpkin. He stopped cackling, and his grin vanished with concern. But I flung his pumpkin up into the air anyway. As soon as it shattered on the sidewalk into gooey orange pieces, he buried his face in his hands and wept. I learned the hard way that with kids don't easily part with the things they made, even if they fall out of season. Please learn from my mistake - if you have to throw out the pumpkin they carved for Halloween, maybe don't be so gratuitous about it.

We had my sister Sarah over on Saturday. She took some portraits of Marissa in her studio that turned out beautifully.

Given the soft glow, the vibrant colors, and the natural smile, it's hard to believe that merely a few feet away Rodney and I were putzing around in her studio.

Meanwhile, Sarah's dog Hendo pretended to be a corgi, romping with the other corgis in a corgi-sized backyard.

Only Ollie and Ziggy joined him. For the duration of Hendo's visit, Minnie kept to herself. She found refuge from the big scary dog hiding on top a chair pushed into our dining room table. Throughout the day, we heard her short, choppy barks. It was almost like she was hoping that if she couldn't be seen, Hendo would think the barks were coming from a much bigger dog than she was, but she didn't fool anyone.

After the studio photo shoot, we threw on some nice clothes and took pictures by the lake.

Rodney threw sticks in the water while he waited for Sarah to take mine and Marissa's picture. A local man who had been fishing nearby dropped his pole and sprinted over to us. "Careful!" he yelled. "I seen snakes in the water!"

He pointed to Rodney, who was reaching for a stick in the bush. Before we could address the unexpected warning, Rodney turned around and yelled, "I'M NOT AFRAID OF SNAKES."

After dinner, we took Sarah out to our favorite ice cream place.

On Sunday, we awoke to chaos. Daylight savings arrived without warning. Miles welcomed the late morning by screaming in his crib, and Rodney was in such a bad mood that he broke into tears when I told him we'd be watching church instead of playing Xbox. Children take all the fun out of getting an extra hour added to the morning, don't they?

We laid low on Sunday. Minnie took a book to a cozy corner of the living room. Alphabet Picture Book, she says, started slowly but in the end gave her something substantial to chew on.

We laid around and watched sports. Feeling more motivated, Marissa finished painted our hobby closet, but she respected my right to be a lazy loaf the entire day. "Your only chore today is turning off the water," she said.

The shut-off valve for our water lies in the darkest, dirtiest, most cobweb ridden corner of our basement. We affectionately refer to it as the spider hole. Twice a year, I bravely reach my arm into the spider hole and turn the rusty valve, doing my best not to think about the hundred year old musty rag tied around the pipe.

Before calling it a night, I checked in on each of the spiders. Since the air has been so dry lately, the enclosures needed to be misted. Venom, who has been completely holed in for the past week, surprised me. Turning his acrylic box around, I was surprised to see his face up against the transparent wall.

That's what I got today. Have a great Monday, everybody.